Republicans' negotiating stance is clearly distortion

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) arrives to face reporters following a closed-door Republican strategy meeting as the partial government shutdown enters its second week with no end in sight. He is followed by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the Republican Conference chair.

I am a recent retiree of a major Indianapolis corporation, where I was pleased to spend the last 19 years of my 26-year employment essentially as a professional negotiator managing the regulatory relationship between industry and government. In this role, I developed a keen understanding of the elements of negotiations, especially the exact nature of the bet on the table and a clear view of the risks and deliverables that may be obtained.

With this background, I've watched the congressional discussion on the Affordable Care Act with great professional interest. The Republican House has made a great deal about their hopes to negotiate with the president about the ACA and when this is said as a stand-alone phrase in isolation of their objectives, it sounds so reasonable. So let's look at exactly what is on the table for each side so we can see if in fact, they have a reasonable position. The Republican members of the House appear to be demanding the delay, defunding or some other step toward dismantling the ACA as their hoped-for negotiation outcome. In exchange, the Republican House is offering the nation what appears to be no more than business as usual; that is, the government would work about as well it did last year or any other year. Professionally speaking, this is a losing hand and any real opposing negotiator would be nuts and risk his employment for talking a deal like that. In fact, this type of deal is clearly extortion and cannot be framed as anything other than give me the money and no one gets hurt. That's no basis for any type of negotiation.

John Jachetta

Zionsville

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Republicans' negotiating stance is clearly distortion

I am a recent retiree of a major Indianapolis corporation, where I was pleased to spend the last 19 years of my 26-year employment essentially as a professional negotiator managing the regulatory